A Quilt Maker’s Tale – #8 – Do you remember Artex paint?
My grandmother could pull any quilt from her closet (that’s where she kept them) and tell you something about it. One time she pulled one down for me and told me where each fabric had come from, some were clothing that her children had worn. She remembered every piece. Every quilt maker has a story to tell. I want to collect those stories and share them with you.
A Quilt Maker’s Tale is a series featuring stories from my readers about their experiences with quilts. The stories are in the quilt maker’s own words and uses their own pictures. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please have a look here.
See all the posts in this series here.
Patchwork + Quilt (a class for learning to quilt)
By Linda Nettles
Do any of you remember the Artex paint from the 60’s? I’m sure most of you are not old enough to remember, but everyone was having paint parties and these paints came in tubes and you stored them in a big can. They were great for painting on fabrics and clothes and just about anything else. My grandmother had lots of these tubes and painted many things, including aprons, tablecloths, and fabrics to quilt.
The flower quilt above is one of her quilts that I inherited, probably painted in the 70’s.
While watching her paint and seeing her many projects I fell in love with the paint also. So, I bought a kit and started making baby quilts to give away, usually for baby showers. One of my nieces told me she still has hers. The quilt below was made for my two girls, Lisa and Karen. I did not put a date on the quilt but I do know that we lived in Atlanta in the early 70’s and that’s when it was made. As you can see it was regularly used and washed often. I remember you could buy stamped fabrics to paint on but I usually got my designs from coloring books or some I even drew. I considered myself a little bit talented then. My only regret is that I only have one quilt and two daughters to share. What do you do? I’m not sure that they know I still have the quilt. I need to do a few repairs and get it ready to give away.
You can get to know Linda better on her Instagram account here.
My Quilt Patterns
